[Tichy]

My impression is that both of these are known bugs, and that therefore exploiting them is cheating unless agreed-upon house rules specifically dictate otherwise.

But I've also seen a compromise position: it's ok for a mage to cast a spell like that and then have the last of his or her scripted commands (i.e. the main command after the five commander scripts) be retreat, because it can never be verified whether a mid-battle retreat is due to a script or to a morale check.

In any case, using this exploit should be considered in Very Bad Taste. And we are nothing if not tasteful gods...